The Hon. Ravi Karunanayake

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chairperson, I move:

¶ 02 “Whereas every family in Sri Lanka should have a house to live in, this Parliament resolves that every household head should be facilitated and empowered to purchase, build or rent a house for his or her security and well-being.”

¶ 03 I bring with pleasure the concept “A house for every family.” I recall how, after Independence, D.S. Senanayake worked towards this concept; thereafter J.R. Jayewardene enhanced it; Ranasinghe Premadasa legislated and advanced it; later, President Chandrika Kumaratunga introduced new concepts; and recently, as President, Ranil Wickremesinghe advanced the scheme in my own constituency at Kajimawatte, giving houses without any charge to the residents — that deeply inspired me.

¶ 04 A young couple’s greatest concerns are: how to obtain security and a home of their own, and their children’s education. Housing is a vital need and it is practical. As Finance Minister, I pushed this as much as possible. Let me share international experience and costs, and ask why we have not implemented this and what ideas are needed. The responsible Minister is eagerly working — I saw this in Committee.

¶ 05 For 77 years, every main party has governed; the question is how to resolve this beyond party colours. Countries like Singapore, Malaysia, India’s Bengaluru, Australia and Turkey have successfully built surplus housing.

¶ 06 Our population is 21.7 million; with about 5.7 million households. Reports say a housing deficit of 3.85% to 4.5% — around 400,000 to 500,000 units. In Colombo District, around 66,000 families live in slums; I use that term only to indicate conditions, not to insult. How do we eliminate “slums” from Colombo and move to a flats system? Already, in North and Central Colombo, several schemes have been implemented. As of now, there are about 1,506 “Korean-type” sites in Colombo where our poor live. In the Northern Province, about 95,000 such units exist.

¶ 07 I table Figure 2 — Housing Demand and Supply 2022 — as Table 1, covering districts (excluding North and East due to data). Gampaha: with 680,000 houses, needs another 75,000-80,000. Colombo: with 640,000 houses, needs another 90,000.

¶ 08 I also table Figure 1 — “The Housing Gap has Increased by 218% in a Decade” — as Table 2, showing a deficit of about 480,000 by 2022.

¶ 09 To build a house, one goes to NHDA, or to State Mortgage and Investment Bank, People’s Bank, National Savings Bank, or a private bank; or uses savings, parental support, mortgages, Government schemes, or inheritance. A typical single-storey house costs about Rs. 2,500–3,000 per square foot; flats cost Rs. 5,000–6,000 per square foot. Building 500,000 standard houses would cost roughly Rs. 2,500 billion — not small, but feasible at national scale, like the 1977–78 accelerated programme. This is supply-side management to revive the economy, rather than only using monetary contraction to tame inflation.